Bronx and Westchester Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman accused Columbia University Thursday of carrying out “political reprisals” after the daughter of fellow “Squad” Rep. Ilhan Omar was suspended for her involvement in anti-Israel protests on the Morningside Heights campus.
Bowman, 48, said Omar (D-Minn.) had “questioned Columbia leadership’s commitment to free academic expression” during a heated congressional hearing on Wednesday — only for her daughter, Isra Hirsi, to be disciplined “the day after.”
“It’s clear what is happening here. Our educational institutions should not be in the business of political reprisals,” declared Bowman.
In fact, Hirsi is a student at Barnard College, one of four Columbia undergraduate schools which has an independent admissions process, curriculum and financial structure — as well as a separate administration.
Hirsi and the two other students — Maryam Iqbal and Soph Dinu — were disciplined for continuing to participate in an “unauthorized encampment” after “repeated requests” to vacate the premises, according to an email from Barnard Dean Leslie Grinage.
Hirsi, an organizer with Columbia University’s Apartheid Divest group, said in a subsequent social media post that she “will not be intimidated.”
“We will stand resolute until our demands are met. Our demands include divestment from companies complicit in genocide, transparency of @Columbia’s investments and FULL amnesty for all students facing repression,” she added.
Omar, who last year lost her position on the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee over her past antisemitic remarks, described anti-Israel demonstrators at campuses nationwide Wednesday as “anti-war protesters” who have been targeted and harassed in a direct “attack on the democratic rights of students across the country.”
In a press conference before the House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Jewish students at Columbia recounted ongoing antisemitic harassment and violence, including being assaulted for wearing a Star of David necklace and hearing chants of “F– the Jews” in the kosher section of campus dining halls.
As part of the protest that got Hirsi suspended, dozens of identical green tents were erected in front of Butler Library.
“I’m an organizer with CU Apartheid Divest @ColumbiaSJP, in my 3 years at @BarnardCollege I have never been reprimanded or received any disciplinary warnings,” Hirsi, 21, said in her post.
“I just received notice that I am 1 of 3 students suspended for standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide.”
Video footage of the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” captured Wednesday as Columbia President Minouche Shafik sat in Congress showed protesters shouting “We’re all Hamas” and “Long live Hamas.”
Shafik in her testimony declined responsibility for the rising tide of hateful speech against Jews at Columbia — acknowledging only that phrases like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “globalize the intifada” were not “personally” acceptable and “hurtful” to some students.
NYPD officers in riot gear cleared Columbia’s campus of at least 100 demonstrators in the encampment on Thursday after Shafik authorized the crackdown.